


And Buttercup Makes Three

by occultclysms



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Asexual Character, Gen, Ice Cream, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: Between your 20th and 30th birthday, the name of your soulmate and the first thing they want you to know about them appears on the back of your hand and it will disappear the moment you meet them. Minseok and Junmyeon expect to only see the others name for a moment, but then there's a second name on their hands and the words "I don't want to be found."
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65
Collections: Beautiful Accidents Fest 2020





	And Buttercup Makes Three

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to a for beta-ing it and raising my confidence in this piece

"This whole soulmate thing is so annoying," Minseok sighs, staring at the clock. "We don't even know if my name will show up on your hand."

"I don't know if you mean this year or ever because I know it will," Junmyeon declares. "I feel like this is the year. I don't have any logic or reasoning but who needs that." Minseok rolls his eyes and smiles, Junmyeon always knows how to make him feel a bit better, which is a part of Junmyeon's argument that they are guaranteed to be soulmates.

"That does make me feel better," Minseok says. "It's 11:53 on May 21st and I'm bored. I know we have seven minutes to kill and we could just watch YouTube or something, _or_ you could kiss me." Minseok ends with a cheeky smile and Junmyeon rolls his eyes, but climbs on top of Minseok's lap.

"I love you," Junmyeon says, kissing all the spots of Minseok's face. A kiss to his cheek, then a kiss to his nose, then one on his eyebrow just because. "I love you so much and even _if_ you aren't my soulmate, I wouldn't give you up for the world because you're amazing in so many ways. You make me so happy, I don't think it's possible for me to be happier with someone. Like, I don't know if I could handle it. It could kill me."

"I think you're being dramatic, but it makes me feel better," Minseok says, leaning up to capture Junmyeon's lips in a soft kiss. Junmyeon's hands feel around to grab onto Minseok's and Minseok's heart swells, Junmyeon's love of hand-holding is so pure.

The clock strikes midnight and Beatles music fills the room. Junmyeon and Minseok scramble apart and look at their hands. On their left hands, they see the other's name and a brief flash of what they want the other to know, but they are together so the text disappears quickly. Minseok is overcome with so much happiness he almost doesn't notice the writing on his other hand.

"Minseok," Junmyeon says. "Look at your other hand." Minseok flicks his gaze over and there's another name, Jongdae Kim and the words 'I don't want to be found.' Junmyeon and Minseok make eye contact, completely silent and Junmyeon holds up his own hand with the same message.

"What does that mean?" Minseok asks, voice cracking. All he knows is that he loves Junmyeon with everything he has, always has and always will.

"I think it means we have another soulmate," Junmyeon replies. "But why wouldn't he want to be found by us?"

"What if he got the message first and saw the two names?" Minseok hypothesizes. "Then he wouldn't want to like come between us or something."

"So how do we find him?" Junmyeon asks. "There's probably hundreds of Jongdae Kim's out there. It isn't the most uncommon name."

"This _would_ be easier if he was named Football or something. Who names their kid Football? Easy find." Junmyeon laughs and Minseok smiles, he's glad at the very least that they can find a small upside to this.

"We should ask our friends if any of them know a ‘Jongdae Kim’ because it's not like he's halfway around the world. At least, it’s not likely that he is. He's probably just under our noses," Junmyeon reassures. "But for the moment, it's past midnight and we won't find him right now."

Minseok nods and takes Junmyeon's hand as they walk to bed and curl up together, now thinking of possibly having another between them.

* * *

The next day, Minseok realizes there's no milk or eggs in the fridge and therefore nothing to eat. He calls Junmyeon into the kitchen to see if he wants to go to the grocery store together.

"Ooh, what a fun date idea; the grocery store," Junmyeon teases.

"It's a necessity!" Minseok counters. "We can go out on a proper date sometime soon, I promise."

"I will hold you to that, but until such time, we should go to the grocery store soon. I also want to eat."

Junmyeon drives and Minseok sits in the passenger seat anxiously. He's still hung up on the events of last night. The words, 'I don't want to be found' stare up at him, almost mocking in a way. Minseok flips his hand over so he doesn't have to look at them anymore.

Instead, he focuses his attention on the buildings passing by. Eventually, Junmyeon parks in front of the store and they hop out together. The sky is overcast and doesn't really improve Minseok's mood that much.

Before Junmyeon and Minseok can even walk into the store, they bump into a store employee leaving.

"I'm so sorry," Minseok says. The employee looks up and the pair make eye contact and he almost seems familiar. Sparing a glance at the employee's name tag, Minseok reads the name, Jongdae. There's no way this is a coincidence. "Are you Jongdae Kim?"

"Who's asking?" Jongdae counters, hesitantly. Minseok holds out his now blank palm to Jongdae.

"One of your soulmates," Minseok replies. Junmyeon lifts his palm as well.

"Mine is blank as well and it wasn't thirty seconds ago," Junmyeon adds on.

"So you two are Junmyeon and Minseok?" Jongade looks like he's about to be sick, which is discouraging, to say the least. Minseok and Junmyeon look at each other before nodding. "And I'm assuming we’re supposed to fall in love now or something."

"I mean, we _are_ soulmates," Junmyeon points out.

"You two are already established in what you have, so I guess you don't really need me, do you?" Jongdae counters. "My hands got two messages and you know what they say? They said 'I'm glad to spend my life with you' and 'I'm so grateful to have you in my life.' That doesn't sound very open to a third party to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get home."

"Wait, Jongdae—" Minseok protests. "You just met us and we had no clue you even existed until yesterday. You can't blame us for not knowing that we have a third soulmate when they are so rare and Junmyeon and I have been together for years. We naturally thought that we were the be all and end all for each other, but that doesn't mean we wouldn’t want you in our lives." Jongdae frowns.

"Okay, fine. But I have one other thing I need to get off my chest first." Jongdae takes a deep breath. "I'm asexual. Like I've known for a while, so that's not really changing. I'm fine on my own for the most part, but I do crave some form of companionship, ya feel. But most people still want to sleep with me, when that's just not really my vibe at all."

"That's totally fine," Minseok blurts out. "Like it wouldn't even be a big deal because like Junmyeon isn't asexual and I'm not either, so we like have each other."

"Minseok," Junmyeon squeaks. "You are extremely embarrassing. I really didn't think on day one we would start talking about our sex life."

"Well, I suppose that does make it easier," Jongdae admits. "I still don't want to impose and become some random person you feel obligated to date."

"I don't think that would happen," Junmyeon points out. "Not to weigh too much on the whole soulmate thing, but being with Minseok makes me feel complete. We completely vibe together, so I think soulmates might work because I'm happy with Minseok and I don't think I match well with everyone. But since you're also our soulmate, that probably means that you are there to keep everything together in a way. Like the missing puzzle piece we didn't even know we were missing."

"I suppose you two raise some valid points, but I'm still hesitant to do this," Jongdae says, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I'm assuming you two are actually here to buy groceries, so I'll let you do that."

"Can we get your number first?" Minseok asks. "Provided you don't want to spend any more time with us today."

"What did you have in mind?" Jongdae asks and Minseok is surprised he's even willing to keep talking to them.

"I didn't have something big in mind, but groceries can be put off until tomorrow," Minseok replies. "Junmyeon?"

"Yeah, no big plans here, so whatever would be fun for you is all good with me," Junmyeon adds on. "Like we could go to the park or to a coffee shop." Jongdae’s eyes light up at the words park and Minseok’s heart soars.

“I haven’t been to the park in ages,” Jongdae replies. “I would really like to go again.”

“So is that a yes?” Junmyeon clarifies and Jongdae nods. “Well, then would you like to ride with us to the park or should we walk?”

“How fair is it from here?” Jongdae asks. “I thought it was all the way across town.”

“There’s one that’s only two blocks from here,” Minseok says.

“Then let’s walk. We have been standing out here forever,” Jongdae replies. He pockets his name tag and the three of them walk towards the parking lot in silence. “I feel like I should mention how I’ve had both of your names on my hands for years now. That’s probably why your hands said what they did.”

“That’s a thing?” Junmyeon asks. “I thought we all got them at the same time.”

“That’s what I assumed, but I’ve had mine for three years and neither of you really bothered to find me. So, I thought I would be alone for the rest of my life,” Jongdae explains and Minseok’s heart breaks.

“I’m so sorry,” Minseok replies.

“God, this is depressing,” Jongdae says, running a hand through his hair. “I promise I’m not normally like this. Normally, I can actually be positive.”

“It’s okay, really,” Junmyeon reassures. “The park is really close by anyway, so we can switch conversation topics.” They reach the park a few moments later and Jongdae practically makes a bee line for the swings. Minseok and Junmyeon catch up to him and share a quick glance between the two of them.

“Swings are the best,” Jongdae says and Junmyeon takes a seat on the swing next to him. There’s only two swings here, so Minseok stands and leans against one of the polls holding the swing set together.

“So tell us a bit more about yourself Jongdae,” Minseok prompts. He already knows Junmyeon inside and out, and Junmyeon was the same for him, so he really wants to get at least a bit closer to that level with Jongdae.

“Well, I grew up in Philadelphia then moved here when I was fifteen. I went to college all online, I enjoy long walks on the beach, I have a dog named Patches at home. I only work at the grocery store because I’m trying to save up before starting my masters program in the fall,” Jongdae says.

“Ooh, what are you studying?” Junmyeon asks. “Minseok and I have known each other forever, but we also both went to the same school for econ purely by accident.” That’s actually true. Minseok had been ready to break the news to Junmyeon that he’s going to a different school than their local one for econ, only for Junmyeon to tell him the exact same thing. Just another way that Junmyeon and Minseok knew they were soulmates from the beginning.

“That’s really cute,” Jongdae replies. “And I am going for a masters in Math. Most people can’t stand math, but I find it fascinating. Everything really comes down to numbers y’know.”

“That’s true,” Minseok adds on. “What do you want to do once you’re done with your masters?”

“Probably become a teacher,” Jongdae says wistfully. “I have really fond memories of all my high school teachers. Which I suppose is also really surprising for most people, but I just want to be like them.”

“If you like your teachers a lot why did you go to school online?” Minseok asks. He really hopes that’s not too much of a personal question and it’s actually because Jongdae’s mother died or something like that.

“I did online school so I could help my brother through high school. He really struggles and I was the only one who could properly help him understand everything, so it was a no brainer for me.” Jongdae smiles up at Minseok as he’s swinging. “He’s the best brother I could ever ask for.”

So Jongdae is caring, smart, considerate of others and wants to be a teacher. He truly is Junmyeon and his dream boy. It sucks that they weren’t able to meet him sooner. Junmyeon seems to read his mind.

“It’s a shame we didn’t meet you sooner, you’re really great,” Junmyeon says and Jongdae giggles.

“You flatter me,” Jongdae replies. “I just try to do the right thing and make others happy.”

“Maybe this is a bit extreme for having met you fifteen minutes ago, but I really want to make you happy too,” Minseok blurts out. It could be the fact he knows they are soulmates or maybe it’s something else, but it felt like the right thing to say. Jongdae skids his feet on the ground, slowing his swing to a stop.

“No, it’s not. We’re _supposed_ to be soulmates so it only makes sense that you would be feeling like that, but it still really means a lot considering I was sure you two wouldn’t want me,” Jongdae says. An ice cream cart walks past the three of them and they all share a look.

“Since we are all soulmates, we all love ice cream, right?” Junmyeon asks and Minseok nods.

“If you two’s favorite ice cream is the Powerpuff Girl ones, I’m going to propose right now,” Jongdae proclaims.

“Guess who’s getting married then?” Junmyeon jokes and Jongdae’s jaw drops. “Powerpuff Girl ice cream is the best.”

“I always liked Buttercup the best,” Jongdae adds on. “But let's continue with this new discovery while catching up to the ice cream man, because if he leaves the park, there’s no ice cream for any of us.” Jongdae has a point, so they all get up from the swings and follow the ice cream man.

“I’ll pay,” Minseok decides and Jongdae looks like he’s about to protest. “I insist. My treat.” Jongade bites his lip, but doesn’t fight anymore.

Minseok orders one of each Powerpuff Girl ice creams and pays, letting the ice cream man walk away.

“You said you wanted Buttercup, right?” Minseok asks as he hands the Buttercup one to Jongdae who nods.

“Thank you, Minseok,” Jongdae replies.

“I’ll take Bubbles, as usual,” Junmyeon says, taking the ice cream from Minseok as Minseok opens the Blossom one for himself. One bite in and he’s reminded of all the positive memories he and Junmyeon have doing things like this and how excited he is to make new memories like these with Jongdae.

“This has been a wonderful first date,” Jongdae begins. “But I do have to get home to my dog as I’m sure he’s missed me a lot.”

“But we’re definitely doing this again right?” Junmyeon clarifies.

“Absolutely.” Jongdae stands on his tip toes and gives Junmyeon a kiss on his cheek who promptly blushes profusely. Jongdae turns to Minseok and repeats the gesture. Butterflies fill Minseok and he’s sure that there is plenty of space for Jongdae in his heart.


End file.
